We all want to feel fulfilled and happy, but when life throws some curveballs, we can lose our sense of direction and struggle to find meaning and purpose.
Tune in to this terrific episode of What's the Story where Jared Mitchell shares his journey of finding meaning in life while struggling with anxiety, running a business with his wife, raising a child with ASD and all of life's ups and downs!
Here’s a summary of this week’s story:
- Jared accepted Jesus into his heart at the age of five, when his teacher Miss Peggy asked if he wanted to do so. He used to feel bad that he didn't have an exciting story about how he became a Christian, but now realizes being consistent in faith is more important than having a crazy story to tell.
- Jared chose to attend Biola University in La Mirada, California despite being offered scholarships from other schools. He met his wife Alana there and they both felt a calling on their lives. After an incident of spilling salad on him, Jared and Alana connected instantly and felt like they knew each other their whole life after only meeting once.
- Jared started a decking business while he was playing music in a band. His wife got an aesthetician license to make money. When the housing market tanked, Jared's wife suggested starting an e-commerce website which he built using instructions from a flyer at Costco.
- As a result of his business, Jared realized he had an anxiety problem which he was not aware of before. He tried various treatments such as medication and therapies to overcome it but found that mentorship from Dr Ron proved to be key in helping him understand and control his anxiety. To fight for the kingdom, Jared started taking part of each day to pray with friends at their office multiple times per week, resulting in positive outcomes for himself and those involved.
- Jared and Alana have been happily married while running a business together for some time. To make it work, they've had to put in place strict boundaries between work and home life. Marriage counseling has helped them understand that each of them brings different strengths to both the marriage and business relationship which need to be respected rather than competing against one another's weaknesses.
- Jared and Alana experienced a foundation-shaking moment when their first son, Malachi was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of four or five. They faced numerous challenges such as lack of sleep due to gastrointestinal reflux disease, people not wanting Malachi around their kids and having multiple different therapies for him which required much investment in terms of time and money.
- Jared believes that the best advice he could give himself is to not worry about the future or regret the past. He developed a routine of praying and reading scripture daily, as well as bringing his son to church and surrounding him with good people. It appears that this journey has changed Jared more than it did Malachi; however, both have grown in amazing ways throughout their experience together – including Malachi inventing and patenting his own product!
- Jared has been donating some of his Saturdays working with kids with special needs - an experience he finds extremely rewarding. He believes that God values people's time more than their money and encourages others to think along these terms when deciding how best to invest in His kingdom.
ABOUT JARED:
Jared and his beautiful wife Alana are successful "Fampreneurs" with a thriving online skin care business in the US called SkincarebyAlana.com. They have been happily married for the last 19 years, with two children (Malachi and Eli). They live and work in Orange County California.
